By the numbers alone, the surge of the original Luna token on Tuesday is eye-popping. The crypto affiliated with the TerraUSD stablecoin, which collapsed earlier this month, has soared over 4,500% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk. But the spike is a good reminder that percentage increases don’t always show real-world gains.
Despite its moonshot surge, Luna classic, as the original coin is now called, is still trading for just 6/10ths of a penny. As of 10:00 a.m. ET, you’d need 213 of the token to purchase one Dogecoin.
Luna classic, of course, isn’t the same as Luna 2.0 (which has assumed the Luna name on exchanges). That replacement coin is trading on Binance in a high-risk area and seeing its own spike. In the past 24 hours, it has jumped nearly 800% to just under $9, as of 10:00 a.m. ET. Binance has warned buyers to expect more volatility on that token than others.
So far, that warning has proven prescient. After hitting a peak of $19.53 on Saturday, Luna 2.0 fell to $6.15. It has fluctuated wildly since.
Supporters of the Terra blockchain project last week voted to revive Luna, on the advice of creator Do Kwon, but not the TerraUSD stablecoin. That algorithmic stablecoin saw its market capitalization implode from $18 million one week to nearly nothing. Experts tell Fortune it was doomed to fail from the beginning.
Luna classic is trading on a new blockchain and will exist alongside the new Luna crypto. There are 6.5 trillion of the old coin in circulation—and those who held it before the collapse were allocated 35% of the new Luna coins, while people who bought after the collapse will get 25% of the new coins.
[This report has been updated to clarify the Luna cryptocurrency’s affiliation with the TerraUSD stablecoin.]
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